A weekly newsletter to catch you up on essential news and insights from the past 7 days...
Top Stories

Fanatics Acquired the Hobby. What Happens Next?
With the news that Fanatics has now agreed with the NBA/NBPA and NFLPA (after coming to terms with the MLB/MLBPA last week) many in the hobby are wondering what comes next for Topps and Panini.

MINT Collective Event Focused on Investing, Growth
IMG, the long-time sports, event and talent agency and Collectable are partnering to produce The Mint Collective, a three-day (January 28-30, 2022) Las Vegas sports collectible event that includes a card show, but the primary focus is a series of speakers who will discuss the hobby as an investment vehicle.

PSA Launching Pop Reports For Game-Used Bats
PSA is launching population reports, which document the number of graded items in existence for any specific brand, set, player and grade, for game-used bats. PSA is initially launching with only 30 of baseball’s greatest hitters, from Hank Aaron to Ted Williams, with plans to expand slowly.

The Top 10 Fastest Growing Football Cards This Week
ONE37pm breaks down the top football cards this week with the NFL season fast approaching.

Hobby Tweets of the Week

How Sports Trading Cards Became a Multibillion-Dollar Asset Class
Bloomberg put together an insightful 15 minute feature on how the once-innocent hobby has been transformed by seven-figure valuations and fractional investment.

How Online Marketplaces Are Leading The Trading Card Boom
“That frenzy for trading cards is fueled by a mix of lockdowns, generational nostalgia and speculation in collectibles in the wake of the NFT craze. But much of the trading is happening on e-commerce marketplaces.”

The Met Is Showcasing One of the Largest Collections of Baseball Cards Ever Assembled
The Met will showcase a collection of 30,000+ baseball cards belonging to Jefferson R. Burdick. The exhibition offers a fascinating look at the history of the game, along with the history of American print throughout the late 19th and first half of the 20th Century.

Sports NFT Sales Plunge, But the Overall NFT Market is Surging, with $7 Billion in Sales
The Athletic (paywall) examines trends in popular NFTs including the latest from Dapper Labs and NBA Top Shot.
Collectable Content

Collectable Weekly
Collectable’s Alan Goldsher gets nostalgic about his greatest fantasy football picks, and wonders if those players are valued by The Hobby. CEO Ezra Levine also joins the show and discusses the Fanatics deal, the MINT Collective event in Vegas, and upcoming IPOs.

What's it Worth?
This week’s (8/23) user submissions on “What’s It Worth?” involve all-time greats still playing in the NFL and NBA. PSA lead appraiser Michael Osacky gives a Tom Brady rookie card a five-figure valuation, and also takes a look at a pair of autographed sneakers from Kevin Durant.

The Panel
This week’s (8/23) episode of The Panel discusses Fanatics’ big play into sports cards, and the future of Topps. Plus, thoughts on the game-worn memorabilia market (hint: think about it), Miguel Cabrera’s 500th home run, and the documentary on the infamous Pacers-Pistons brawl, called the Malice at the Palace.